Sunderland take on Swansea City in the Championship this afternoon, in another first game as interim boss for Mike Dodds.
Dodds takes charge of the Black Cats on an interim basis for a third time now, after Sunderland sacked Michael Beale at the start of this week.
Beale leaves the club in 10th place of the Championship table but now seven points behind Hull City in 6th, after the Tigers earned a 2-1 win at Southampton in midweek.
Swansea City visit the Stadium of Light today. The Swans sit in 18th after a tough season so far with the Welsh club having won just one of their last seven in the league, losing the other six.
Mike Dodds backs Sunderland in play-off race
Dodds wrote a letter to Sunderland fans ahead of today’s game.
In the letter he spoke of being proud to be made interim boss once again, about Swansea City boss Luke Williams, and about Tony Mowbray amid his health concerns.
Dodds also reviewed Sunderland’s play-off hopes after a couple of defeats in the Championship has taken the wind out of the Black Cats’ sails.
Dodds wrote:
“With 13 games remaining, we’re in a strong position to compete for a play-off place, and I believe in the players and what we’re doing.
“We have a very talented young squad and it’s brilliant to work with them on a day-to-day basis – they’ve applied themselves brilliantly in training this week and we’re raring to go.”
Top-six finish under Dodds would be another unprecedented season
Nobody backed Sunderland to earn a play-off place last season.
But throughout the season when many were tipping them to fall away, they kept on getting results, earing themselves a play-off place in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season.
Earning another top six finish this time round would be another unprecedented achievement for the Black Cats; arguably more so than last time round given the turbulence of recent weeks and the gap between themselves and 6th now.
Like Dodds says, Sunderland remain in position to at least challenge, and with such a talented set of players, Sunderland should be expected to close the gap to the play-off places between now and the end of the season.
It no doubt boils down to Dodds and whether he can get Sunderland firing like they were last season and at the start of this season.
The players have been through a lot in the past couple of months, and with Jack Clarke and a few others set for spells on the sidelines, it could be a real mental battle to get themselves back into promotion contention.
But a win today would give everyone a much-needed confidence boost, and against an out of sorts Swansea City, a win is very much achievable.